


Azure Blush

by Settiai



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Community: femslashex, Drinking, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 3, One Shot, Post-Mass Effect 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8352049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: Three drinks over three years.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stonestrewn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stonestrewn/gifts).



Not for the first time in the past ten minutes or two, Ashley couldn't help but be somewhat thankful that Dr. Chakwas wasn't in the infirmary just then. She felt like enough of an idiot as it was, pacing back and forth in front of the door to the back room that Dr. T'Soni had claimed and trying to work up the nerve to go in. It would have been infinitely worse if there had been someone there to witness her acting like a nervous teenager instead of a grownass woman.

Thank God for small miracles, she supposed. Or, at least, for Adams considering she was fairly certain he and Chakwas were playing poker down in the engine room.

Ashley sighed, clenched her fists at her sides, and stopped directly in front of the door that led to T'Soni's room. It would have been so much easier just to point Shepard in T'Soni's direction and let the commander talk to the asari about everything that had happened down on Noveria. She was the CO, after all. It was technically her job.

Still, things had been noticeably tense between the two of them for the past week or two, and the scuttlebutt was that Shepard had finally had a talk with T'Soni about the crush that she'd clearly been nursing for a while now. And considering the awkwardness that everyone, Ashley included, had picked up on in the aftermath of it... well, it was easy enough to guess how that conversation must have had gone.

Which meant Shepard was out. And _that_ was why Ashley was in the infirmary in the first place. T'Soni had just lost her mother, and even if she hadn't been nearly as close to her as Ashley had been to her dad? She knew what it was like to lose a parent. Holing up alone with nobody to talk to was about as far from what T'Soni needed just then as she could get.

"Oh, fuck it," Ashley said, screwing up her nerve and triggering the chime on the door that Tali had set up for T'Soni to give her a bit of privacy.

There was a long moment of silence.

Ashley was just starting to think that it was a moot point after all when the door suddenly whooshed open.

T'Soni's mouth was open when the door opened, like she already had something that she planned to say to whoever was on the other end. A startled look appeared on her face when she saw Ashley standing there, though, and her mouth snapped shut.

"Chief Williams?" she asked, most than a little confusion in her voice. "Can I help you?"

It probably should have hurt a bit that T'Soni seemed so shocked to see her standing there, but Ashley honestly couldn't blame her all that much. She hadn't exactly gone out of her way to get to know any of her alien crewmates at first. And once she had started to get to know them, well, Ashley tended to stay down below, and T'Soni rarely went down there. She'd had plenty of time to talk with Garrus and Tali, and even Wrex to some extent although he tended to avoid conversations when he could help it, but not so much T'Soni.

Other than a handful of missions where Shepard had brought the two of them with her, Ashley could probably count on one hand the number of times that they'd talked. And now that she was thinking about it _that_ way, coming down here to try and comfort T'Soni about losing her mother was starting to seem like possibly the worst idea she'd had in some time.

Still, she was there. It was too late to second guess herself.

Especially with T'Soni standing just in front of her, her head tilted slightly to the side in confusion and a somewhat haunted look in her eyes.

"I thought you might want someone to talk to," Ashley said, a bit more bluntly than she'd meant for it to come out. "About everything that went down back on Noveria."

It was almost impressive how quickly T'Soni's face shut down. Ashley had noticed before that she tended to be very expressive, almost an open book in a lot of ways. She'd never actually seen her with anything resembling a poker face, but she apparently had a damn good one if she put her mind to it.

"Thank you, Chief Williams," T'Soni said, nodding politely at her. "I appreciate the gesture, but—"

Ashley held up the bottle that she'd been holding at her side. The pale golden liquid in the bottle seemed to almost glow, and T'Soni drew in a sharp breath as she stared at it.

"If you don't want to talk," Ashley said, gesturing at the bottle, "we could always drink. The asari who sold me this back on the Citadel made it sound like it's supposed to be good. For the price that they charged, it better be."

T'Soni swallowed a few times, and for a second Ashley thought that she'd misjudged _something_ about this whole situation. Then she abruptly nodded. "It's very good," T'Soni said, stepping out of the doorway so that there was room for Ashley to walk past her. "Come in, Chief Williams."

Ashley raised her eyebrows at her as she walked past. "If we're going to drink together, T'Soni, it wouldn't hurt for you to call me Ashley."

T'Soni swallowed again. Then she nodded. "Yes, of course," she agreed. "On one condition, Ch—Ashley."

"I'm listening," Ashley said, dropping down in an empty chair set against one of the walls.

T'Soni gave her a tentative smile. It didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes, but it was a fair attempt at least. "Please call me Liara."

Well, that was fair. That was more than fair.

Ashley nodded at her. "Sure thing, Liara." Then she held up the bottle that she was holding. "So, do you want a drink?"

"Goddess, _yes,_ " T'Soni—Liara—said emphatically. Very emphatically. "Please."

*

"What are you going to do next?"

Ashley jerked her head up, caught off guard by the unexpected question. The world spun slightly around her, a sign that she probably should start paying closer attention to the number of drinks that she was having. It wasn't every day that the Council threw a party in your honor, though, especially one with an open bar, so she supposed that she could be forgiven for overindulging at least a little.

Then she realized that Liara was still staring at her expectantly, an amused look on her face as she waited for an answer.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked, taking another sip of her... whatever the hell it was that she was drinking. It was tasty, that much she knew, but she'd never seen a drink quite that shade of purple in her life.

Liara gave her a slightly lopsided smile as she took a sip of her own drink. "Now that Saren is gone, what are you going to do?" she asked. "Will you stay on the _Normandy_ , or—?"

She trailed off, biting her lip a little. It reminded Ashley almost painfully of Abby. Her sister did the exact same thing. Maybe that was why she'd found herself liking Liara so much, once she'd actually taken the time to get to know her. Despite the age difference, in a lot of ways Liara was still barely more than a kid.

Of course, a few of the thoughts she had about Liara from time to time weren't exactly all that sisterly. Still, nothing was going to come of that, so there wasn't any reason to even think about it.

Besides, her woolgathering wasn't exactly answering Liara's question.

"That's going to depend on Shepard," Ashley said, taking another drink.

Liara gave her a curious look.

"I'm military, remember?" Ashley pointed out. "I go where they tell me. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping to stay on the _Normandy_ , but that's going to be up to the Commander."

Liara opened her mouth. Then she closed it, looking distinctly embarrassed. "I probably should have thought about that."

Ashley laughed, reaching out to clink her glass against Liara's. "I think you can be forgiven just this once," she said with a somewhat pointed look down at both of their almost empty glasses. "How many of those have you had anyway?"

"Not as many as you've had, I expect," Liara said lightly. Her cheeks were flushed somewhat, a darker shade of blue than they normally were, but Ashley could easily believe that Liara was much soberer than she was just then.

"What about you?" Ashley asked, glancing around. Almost as if by magic—or, at least, by the generousness of the Council's credits—another round of drinks appeared on the table in front of them within seconds, delivered by an asari server who gave Ashley a rather flirtatious wink as she dropped them off.

Liara's gaze was focused on the asari server disappearing into the crowd when Ashley glanced back at her, the flush on her cheeks a bit darker than it had been a moment earlier. Ashley frowned at her. "Liara?"

"What?" Liara asked distractedly. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing, and she immediately jerked her head back towards Ashley. "I'm sorry. What did you ask?"

Ashley gave her a curious look, but she didn't push. The server had been somewhat attractive, after all, so she couldn't blame Liara for looking. It was a nice view. "What are you planning on doing?" she repeated. "Back to ancient Prothean digs for you, or—?"

Liara didn't say anything for a long moment. Then she sighed. "That's a good question."

Ashley took another sip of her drink as she waited for Liara to finish her thought. When nothing else was forthcoming, she raised her eyebrows. "And—?" she prompted.

Liara didn't quite meet her gaze. "I'm honestly not quite certain what I'm doing next," she said. "I have several options open to me."

"Any of them you care to share with the class?" Ashley asked.

With a twist of her lips that was almost—but not quite—a smile, Liara brought her drink up and downed the entire glass in one gulp.

Ashley raised her eyebrows.

"At some point, I need to look into my mother's affairs," Liara said, and Ashley grimaced. Her downing her drink suddenly made much more sense. "There are... quite a few loose ends that need to be taken care of, in one way or another."

Liara sighed and looked a bit forlornly at her empty glass. A replacement didn't seem to be appearing nearly as quickly as Ashley's had.

Ashley pushed her own drink across the table.

"Thank you," Liara said gratefully, picking it up and taking a swig. She immediately went into a coughing fit and handed it back to Ashley. "What is _that_?"

"No idea," Ashley said with a grin, taking another sip. "It packs a punch, though."

Liara shook her head, laughing a little. The serious look on her face had disappeared. "I noticed."

A server walked by, not the same one as before but still asari, and surreptitiously replaced Liara's empty glass with a full one. Liara shot her a grateful look and took a sip of her own drink, which apparently was more to her tastes than whatever it was that they were giving Ashley.

Ashley wasn't entirely certain whether or not to keep pushing, considering how Liara had reacted to the last part of her question. Still, she was curious.

"Anything else you need to do?" she asked. Liara stilled. "Or that you want to do?"

For a long moment, Ashley thought that she wasn't going to answer. Then Liara nodded, her gaze not quite meeting Ashley's. "Yes, there are several things that I'd like to do," she said.

"Any that you want to share?" Ashley asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm curious."

Liara glanced at her, a look on her face that Ashley couldn't quite read. Then she looked away. "I'm considering staying on the _Normandy_ for a bit longer," she said. "If Shepard will have me, of course."

Ashley couldn't help but smile a little at that. "I hope she does," she said. "It would be nice to have a few familiar faces on board."

"Yes, my thoughts exactly," Liara said, her gaze flickering back towards Ashley for a moment.

That unreadable look was still on her face, and Ashley couldn't help but think that she was missing _something_. She held up her glass. "To friends?"

Liara hesitated for just a second. If Ashley hadn't been looking straight at her, she might have missed it entirely. "To friends."

*

"Do you mind some company?"

Ashley looked up from the datapad she had been studying and glanced over her shoulder.

Liara was standing in the doorway to the observation deck, a bottle clutched in one hand and two glasses in the other. The liquid in the bottle seemed to be giving off a light golden glow.

"Of course not," Ashley said, gesturing for Liara to come in. Then she dropped her gaze to the bottle that Liara was holding. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I thought it was appropriate," Liara said, sitting down beside Ashley. She brought her legs up under her, leaning against Ashley a little in the process.

Ashley smiled, wrapping an arm loosely around Liara's shoulders. "Where did you even find it?" she asked. "I'd imagine it's a lot more difficult to find nowadays, all things considered."

Liara gave her a half-shrug. "I have my ways," she said.

"I'm sure you do," Ashley said with a snort.

Liara just smiled and handed the two glasses that she was holding to Ashley. She took both of them, holding them out so that Liara could pour the fragrant liquor into them. Once they were full, Liara leaned down and carefully put the bottle down on the floor beside them.

Ashley held one of the glasses to Liara. "What's the occasion?" she asked curiously.

"Is the end of the universe as we know it not enough of a reason?" Liara asked, taking the glass from her.

"Good point," Ashley said with a snort.

Liara took a sip of her drink, and Ashley followed suit. As she did, she took a second to look over the rim of her glass and really study Liara for the first time in what felt like ages.

Both of them had been almost ridiculously busy ever since Ashley had joined the crew of the _Normandy_ , not that it was all that unexpected. The universe really was ending, for all intents and purposes. Still, it went back longer than that. Even before the Reapers had unleashed all-out war, it had been well over a year since their messages to each other had been anything more than sporadic.

"What are you thinking about?" Liara asked curiously.

Ashley's gaze flickered over her for a moment, taking in the shadows under her eyes and tenseness of her shoulders. Physically, she didn't look all that much different from the somewhat naïve kid that they'd found on Therum over three years ago. She was an asari. Three years was nothing to someone who was going to live for a millennium.

No, she didn't look very different at all. But, at the same time, it was as if she had aged a century. Her eyes were harder. Her smiles were smaller.

Liara tilted her head. "Ashley?" 

"Nothing important," Ashley said, shaking her head. She held up her glass. "To friends?"

There was no missing the way that Liara hesitated. Hell, it was almost a _flinch_.

"What's wrong?" Ashley asked, straightening up.

Liara pulled away from her, shifting so that she was facing Ashley. She very pointedly didn't meet Ashley's gaze as she did so. Both of her hands were wrapped around her glass, squeezing it so tightly that it would have shattered if it had been made of anything less durable.

"Liara?" Ashley asked, frowning. "What's the matter?"

"We've been friends for some time now, right?" Liara asked, not looking up.

Ashley felt her frown growing. "Is this a trick question?" she asked. "Of course."

Liara shifted uncomfortably, finally looking up. "I'm sorry," she said. "Ignore me. It's nothing."

Ashley opened her mouth to say that it was fine, that the universe going to hell and back was more than a good enough excuse for almost anything. But then she looked at Liara. She really looked at her. And her mind flickered back to that very first night they'd sat together and shared drinks, sharing stories about their families and the childhoods and the ridiculous crush that both of them had on Shepard that clearly wasn't going anywhere on either of their parts.

And she remembered what Liara's face had looked like, when she'd told Ashley about Shepard turning her down.

Oh. _Oh._

Liara must have noticed something in her gaze, because she quickly downed the rest of her drink and let the glass drop to the floor. "Ashley, it's fine," she said. "I don't mind."

Ashley brought her own glass up and downed the remaining liquor in it. Then she let it fall as well, taking a few steadying breaths as her mind raced.

"How long?" she asked.

Liara bit her lip and looked away.

"Liara," Ashley repeated, "how long?"

With a self-deprecating shrug, Liara laughed. It very much wasn't a happy laugh, and the sound made Ashley's chest ache. "Almost since the beginning," she said. "I learned my lesson with Shepard. It was easier not to say anything." She sighed, looking back up. "I should have just kept my mouth shut. I'm sorry, Ashley. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Ashley stared at her for a long moment, a thousand small details from the past three years suddenly crystalizing in her mind and fitting together like puzzle pieces.

Liara started to stand up. "I should go," she said. "Now that I've ruined both of our evenings."

Ashley grabbed her arm, keeping her from leaving. "I thought you were supposed to be the Shadow Broker," she said. "Secrets are your thing, right?"

Liara went still.

Ashley leaned in and kissed her. It was short, barely more than a peck, but she hoped that it conveyed the promise of more to come. She smiled as she pulled away, staring into Liara's wide eyes.

"You missed one."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
